Page 88 of Soren

Roman grinned, white teeth flashing. “You are.” He raised his mug, his grin dropping. “I do not think less of you. We are more than our pasts, yes?”

Soren raised his own mug, and they toasted with their cold, nasty tea. “To being more than our pasts.”

They sipped in unison. “I killed him,” Soren found himself saying, an echo of his earlier words to Gabe.

Roman nodded, expression neutral. “You did.”

Soren fiddled with his mug. “You spared Luc.”

“I did.” Roman tilted his head, studying Soren. “Not everyone is redeemable, mon ami. We both know that.”

Soren felt something release in his chest. Gabe’s acceptance of it was one thing, but Soren’s mate was seeing the whole situation through love-colored glasses. Roman’s easy understanding went a long way toward assuaging Soren’s guilt.

“I am happy for you, you know,” Roman said. “You found your person. Even if it is a bit…incestuous?”

Soren glared. “He’s notmybrother.”

Roman laughed. He did that a lot more these days, now that he had Danny. Soren refused to be charmed by it. He threw the wrapper from his packet of tea at the other vampire.

Insufferable creature.

But it felt good, having Roman and Danny back. Soren was home. With his friends.

With hisfamily.

twenty-two

Gabe

Gabeeyedthebloodbag in his hands, cool to the touch and almost frosty on the outside from the blood bank’s refrigerators. He’d seen an untold number of these bags in his career in medicine—had ordered them for patients time and again—but he’d never in his life expected to bedrinkingfrom one.

Danny was eyeing him sympathetically from his spot in the driver’s seat. “Kind of weird, huh?”

Gabe’s brother had fetched three blood bags in total, leaving Gabe to sit in the parking lot while he did it (“What if you get all hangry and bitey?”). He’d caught the blood bank workers at shift change, only needing to compel one person to look the other way while he pilfered their loot.

Now they were pulled into the parking lot of a small park near Danny’s house, well away from the streetlights. Gabe sighed, running his fingers along the edges of the bag. “‘Weird’ is putting it lightly.”

“We could go back to the house,” Danny offered. “Heat it up. It’ll taste better that way.”

Gabe shook his head. “No. I, uh, want to get it over with.” He also didn’t want to hurt Soren’s feelings if he ended up gagging over the taste. Drinking from Soren had been one thing. Gabe had been lost to lust and pleasure, to the need to claim his mate.

Drinking blood from some random person felt a little different. Gabe was committed to the whole vampire-for-eternity deal, no doubts about it, but he just needed to…sit with it for a minute. The whole blood-drinking thing.

When a minute had turned into five, he glanced at Danny, his younger brother still waiting patiently. “How do I…?”

He hadn’t been making a conscious decision of it before, back in the forest.

Danny looked confused before realizing what it was Gabe was asking. “Ohh. Let your demon out? Just…um, I don’t know…relax? Itwantsto come out. You just have to let it.”

Relaxing. Cool. Totally Gabe’s strong suit.

He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. He focused on the buzzing sensation that had been building under his skin since their return to Danny’s house. It wasn’t the gut-wrenching need from when he first turned, when Soren had been missing, but it was still a form of…craving. A kind of hunger Gabe had never felt before, bone-deep and distracting as hell.

He could feel the change as it happened, subtle but unmistakable. His vision sharpened, details in the dark car becoming clear as day. His incisors lengthened. Gabe ran his tongue along each one carefully.

He didn’t look at his brother. He wasn’t ready to see Danny’s reaction to Gabe’s second face. Instead he tore a hole through the blood-filled pouch, taking a small sip.

A noise came out of him, some sort of weird growl. Danny was right—it probably would have been better warm—but it wasn’t the worst thing Gabe had tasted in his life. It fulfilled some deep need. Soothed that itchy craving. Gabe finished the bag in a few greedy gulps. The buzzing under his skin dampened with each swallow, until it was gone, along with the blood.

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